Strange uses for a vacuum cleaner : 1 – moth extraction device

Not something that should probably be replicated at home (young readers take note!), a Devon man was admitted to hospital last week after getting a moth stuck in his ear, which he subsequently tried to remove using a Dyson vacuum cleaner!

After the moth defied the ‘cyclone’ effect of Mr Dyson’s invention, going deeper into Jason Chinn’s ear canal, where it settled and then expired, Mr Chinn attended Derriford Hospital, Plymouth.

Bizarrely, Jason’s actions actually proved to be the right surgical procedure; surgeons used a high-powered micro-vacuum nozzle to suction out the dead insect from the 40-year-old’s ear.

Do be warned however, that putting a vacuum cleaner hose to your ear and subjecting it to such a high vacuum pressure would almost certainly rupture your eardrum and damage the delicate inner ear too —- so don’t try it, not even for a laugh!